LAHORE, PAKISTAN
Ya Allah the traffic!
You have this mental image of developing world traffic, particularly in Asia. But friends and coworkers have told me time and time again over the years that that’s not Pakistan. Egypt, India…sure. But not Pakistan. I took their word for it.
Now that I’m here, people are still telling me that the stereotypical developing world traffic that I’m sitting in almost every day is not Pakistan. They’re just doing some construction. It’s never this bad.
Once again, I guess I’ll take their word for it. I haven’t even been here for a week, so I’ll give folks the benefit of the doubt. But last night it took us well over an hour to get to the first wedding event (mayun) and only 10 minutes to get back. Today’s trip to the Lahore Museum was similarly congested.
My uncle-in-law to-be has been playing this sitar CD in the car. It really sets the mood. Riding around feels like being in a movie, especially when we have a driver. Listening to the local music, seeing a world go by that looks just like dozens of b-roll shots I’ve watched at work, seeing the occasional recognizable site (We did a report on Shaukat Khannaum Hospital! I’ve met the people on those political posters!)…I have to remind myself it’s real. On foot, I walk purposefully. But in the car, I gawk. So, I’ve mostly been having fun with the traffic.
But it’s not a curiosity for the people who have to deal with it on a daily basis. 
It’s sad, really; public transportation is woefully inadequate and, from what I understand, somewhat stigmatized. The city seems incredibly spread-out…absolutely sprawling. You need to get around, but you’re mostly on your own.
There is poverty, but there is also enough affluence that it seems like a motorbike is within everyone’s reach or, at the very least, realistic aspirations. And the number of multi-car families is also growing.
Add that up, and you get the traffic that I’m talking about. Cars, trucks, motorbikes (I saw six people on one today), donkey carts, horse carts, auto-rickshaws, vendors (goldfish wallah?!?!?), bicycles, the occasional man hauling a cart, beggars, and pedestrians.
It’s a shame. I’ve never seen a city so desperate for good public transportation.
Before I arrived, my expectation was that, of the cities I’ve visited, Lahore would most closely resemble Bogota, Colombia (Los Angeles now also slightly comes to mind, but Bogota more so). The cities themselves are rather different, but of the places I’ve visited, it’s the best comparison. One of the things that has really transformed Bogota into a more livable city has been the Transmilenio, its Bus Rapid Transit system. Lahore seems to desperately need something like this. I hear they’ve been talking about a light rail system for decades, but who knows what will become of that. InshaAllah…
My favorite thing about the USA is our infrastructure. My least favorite thing about the US is overly rigid zoning. So, I like the fact that Lahore has grown rather organically. It really feels like a city of neighborhoods. Actually, more like an agglomeration of neighborhoods. But it grew organically in too much of an auto-centric way, and the low-density sprawl needs some sort of transit infrastructure to keep pace with it–you can’t just dump people into the streets and have them fend for themselves. I really feel like a good, modern bus transit system could solve a lot of the problems relatively effectively and inexpensively. It would make the city far more livable. Besides that, shalwar khameez and dupatas seem particularly ill-suited to motorbikes.
Despite the chaos, the system more-or-less works. In my admittedly limited experience, I haven’t seen any accidents yet (although I often think of my friend, Brent, who was killed in a road accident in India). Traffic has never hit a complete stand-still. I haven’t seen a single stop sign, but the lights are obeyed and the traffic police won’t hesitate to pull over folks who don’t respect the rules. The roads seem to be in good condition. Signs point the right way. Construction projects are underway. No sore throat yet means good air quality. And maybe most admirably, the city has managed to retain a ton of green space despite the strain on the roads and the constant push to build more.
Could I ever drive here? I wouldn’t say “never,” but honestly, never is definitely a possibility. If I could get used to everything being on the other side of the road, and if someone would finally teach me how to drive a stick, I might, at some point, feel up to braving the chaos. It definitely looks tough, but not quite insurmountable.
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Happy New Year, by the way!
(It seems mostly like a non-event here, at least compared to the US. Although I’m pretty sure I’m hearing my first ever celebratory gunfire!)
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(Update on Jan. 15: Traffic still isn’t good by any means, but things have become slightly better in the days since I wrote this. And many areas are downright pleasant to drive around outside of rush hours.)
Filed under: international, Life, Pakistan, Posts with Pictures, Travel
